21 month old biting ALL the time

[iris5426]

hi mamas,

my 21 month old ds has started biting. all the time! usually its on the shoulder or the arm, it generally accompanies his being really excited about something, or acting really silly (in that insane kind of way similar to when a cat runs around like it's possessed, lol). it has never been malicious as far as i can remember. but it is purposeful, definitely. sometimes he'll bite my leg as well if he comes running up and hugs my legs, he bites at the same time. and he often will bite my clothing and pull back with that gleam in his eye that generally means he knows he is doing something bad, but it is fun. thankfully none of this has ever transferred to nursing yet, we might be weaning a lot faster than planned if it did!

i'm at a loss as to how to handle it though. i'll normally squeeze his cheeks to detach him and sit down with him and calmly/sternly explain that we don't bite, it's not nice, it hurts mama, etc. a few times when he's caught me off guard i've yelled. neither seems to make much difference. last night i even tried biting him back, and that didn't go well at all, i just felt bad and like an idiot for listening to whoever told me to try it.

so help please, any advice is welcome!!

thanks!

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There are a lot of different reasons kids bite. Usually, it's out of frustration and biting is the best tool they have.

But, sometimes it's because they just are so happy and excited. Remember when grandma said "I could just eat you all up" while they squeeze your cheeks. I bet she wanted to bite you. LOL It feels good to bite.

I think the only thing you can do right now is stop him immediately and say a stern "NO BITE!". Don't add a bunch of extra words like "it hurts mommy when you bite". Because he's not listening anymore. Just be quick and to the point. If you are holding him, put him down. Back away when he bites your leg. But, let him know it was the bite that you don't like. Then go immediately back to normal. It's only the bite. You aren't mad at him.

You have to repeat this for a while, because the biting phase can last for several months.

[EzzysMom]

When I had a kid I was caring for with this problem if I saw him coming I'd yell 'kisses!!!!' to try to get him to possibly do that instead, it did help, but not perfectly And if he tried to bite or did bite, I'd hand him something he could bite (teething toy) in addition to saying biting hurts and backing away.